Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to transactions at a point of sale (POS), and in particular, obtaining and/or paying with credit at a POS.
Related Art
Shopping online or electronically is becoming more and more prevalent. This is due in part to the ease of which a consumer can find, pay, and complete a transaction without going to a seller's physical location. Such online shopping is predominantly done from a consumer's PC or laptop, but also from the consumer's mobile device, and as such, payment providers have developed payment products that enable the consumer to quickly, easily, and safely make an electronic payment for a purchase. Online payment services, such as PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. offer services to allow consumers to make payments through the payment provider. If a consumer does not have an account with a payment provider, the consumer may easily apply and get credit during the checkout flow on the merchant site. One such payment provider is Bill Me Later.
However, even with increased online shopping, consumers still shop at physical stores and locations for numerous reasons, including being able to see and try on items, interact with sales associates for help, and to just be around people. Such consumers may also desire to make purchases with credit, but may not have an existing or acceptable credit card account to do so.
In such a situation, the consumer may decide to not make a purchase, resulting in a lost sale for the merchant and a lost item for the consumer.
If the consumer does decide to open a line of credit at the POS, the consumer typically opens a store-specific account. This may require the consumer to provide very specific and detailed information and may take time and effort to complete.
It would be advantageous to have a method in which a consumer can obtain instant credit with an online payment provider at a POS with limited information.